Robert Maurus’ need to “move the torch” of enjoying retro video video games to his son, Gavin, led to Maurus turning into the supervisor of the latest Sport On retro online game retailer on Lengthy Island — this one in Patchogue.
The downtown location, at 12 South Ocean Ave., is the third Sport On retailer, following the Miller Place location that opened in 2015 and the Smithtown venue that opened in 2017.
The shops supply locations for youths and adults to discover video games and gear primarily from earlier than the early 2000s and to share their group curiosity in gaming nostalgia. “Our retailer is about enjoying the video games as they have been meant to be performed on the unique {hardware},” says Sport On founder and proprietor Tristan Whitworth. “It’s about passing it on to the subsequent era. Probably the most magical factor is when these children eight to 10 years previous are coming in to purchase retro video games they see on YouTube or that their dad and mom advised them about.”
Like the primary two shops, the Patchogue locale sells objects associated to Atari (comparable to Donkey Kong), Nintendo Leisure Techniques (comparable to Mario Duck Hunt), Sega Genesis methods (such because the 1992 Sonic the Hedgehog sport) and PlayStation (comparable to Spyro the Dragon). It additionally has an arcade space within the entrance providing free play of previous favorites comparable to Pac-Man and Asteroids.
Whitworth had been getting requests to open a South Shore location for some time, he says. “The most important factor was discovering somebody who was passionate sufficient to run the shop,” Whitworth says.
That’s the place Maurus got here in. He’s been a buyer on the Miller Place retailer for years, visiting most weekends from his dwelling in East Patchogue with Gavin, now age 4, to pick Mario, Ninja Turtles and wrestling video video games to play with him. “The colours, the sounds, the general video games are simpler for him to play,” Maurus says.
The 2 males turned pleasant and determined to work collectively. “We made it occur,” Maurus says. He says he likes the “vibe” of being in downtown Patchogue, the place children can, “just like the previous days,” cease into the close by ice cream parlor after which come to the shop to play video video games collectively.
The Patchogue retailer will not be the final on Lengthy Island for Sport On, Whitworth says — he says he’s been getting requests from clients to open a gaming venue in Nassau County.
Beth Whitehouse writes about households, parenting and nice issues to do with the children on Lengthy Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday workers Pulitzer Prize for protection of the crash of TWA Flight 800.